Raspberry Tart Farewell

When reorganizing all my cardstock and designer papers for the new Stampin' Up! color families, I broke down some of my designer papers that were getting low.  Raspberry Tart was really down to scraps so here is one of the final cards from this paper.

Project Notes:

• The medallion designs are stamped using the Stamp-ah-ma-jig for placement.  They are stamped in Versamark and embossed in white.
• I use Creative Memories circle and oval cutters all the time.  One of the circle cutters rounded the edge on the cameo coral desigener paper.  One of the oval cutters is a great fit for the stamped image around I love you.

Be sure to visit tomorrow for TIPsy Tuesday.  I'll be showing how I organize my cardstock - the current colors, retired colors and Papertrey Ink colors.  Happy Monday!

Ingredients:  Stamps:  Baroque Motifs, Vintage Labels by SU!, Mailbox greetings by PTI
Ink:  Versamark, Rose Coral and Warm Red from Colorbox
Designer Paper:  Raspberry Tart by SU

Well, Jasper may be able to lie around and enjoy the peace and quiet of a vacated house, but I have a scraproom to restore to order. 

Actually, I enjoy organizing - definitely not the same thing as cleaning.  (I believe housecleaning was a punishment wrought on Eve in the Garden of Eden, it just didn't get recorded, only passed down from mother to daughter in the form of guilt.) 

I have already worked on my paper and underbed storage for non-scrapbooking stuff.  Now I have extra drawer space and am once again stumped as the best way to organize my stamps.   Good problem to have, right?

Happy Friday, hope to have some projects back on the blog in the next day or so.

TIPsy Tuesday - Out with the Old

When I return my guest room to a scrap space, I have many plans for how it should be organized.  This of course means getting rid of some stuff.  I've already started clearing out the non-scrapbook related items I really don't need in that room.  Periodically, I do purge scrapbooking items and I'm sure there will be a few more to go with this clean up.

Here are some ideas of what to do with your old scrapbook/card making materials:

• It is almost time for school to start.  Do you know a teacher who might like some crafting supplies? 
• Donate supplies to a friend who is new to scrapbooking or card making.
• Sell items on E-bay - my experience has been that name brand collectables like Creative Memories sell very well.  It is easier if they are sized to fit in those fixed price boxes from the post office so you can control shipping costs.  Keeping shipping costs under $5 is desirable.  You probably won't make a great fortune, but you can get rid of stuff and know that it goes to someone else who will really appreciate the find.
• Re-arrange your storage.  I have some SU! designer papers that I plan to store with the color of cardstock they match rather than continuing to keep so many packs of specific designer paper.  For example, I have several designer papers I've used most, but not all, of that have 'old olive' papers. Why not just store those with the 'old olive' cardstock and have fewer paper organizers.
• Have a "use it up" day/week where every card or project concentrates on using up older supplies.  It is a great opportunity to make cards for charity like Operation Write Home.
• Donate to a friend's yard sale or church sale if you don't want to have one of your own.
• Try to think of a new purpose for your items.  I have some very large chipboard letters that made great photo frames. 
• Stop hoarding supplies for the "perfect project" and put them to good use.  I know that one is hard to do!

Just a few ideas for making more space - well, until the next order from Two Peas gets here.

Handwriting challenge

The Finally Friday challenge from Kristina Werner's blog was to use handwriting on your card.  I didn't have a good "get well" sentiment for these images so I thought I'd try it out.  I've always disliked my handwriting so this was a good challenge for me. 

Project Notes: 

• Before writing on the card, I tested my writing on scrap paper and measured the space needed.
• These images are stamped with Staz-on ink in Timber Brown and then colored in with markers.  I stamped a bunch of images as something I could work on while my scrap space is a guest room.  To choose the ink colors, I picked out a selection of designer paper from Basic Grey to match to.

Thanks for stopping by!

Ingredients:  Stamps:  Occasionally by SU!
Cardstock:  Pumpkin Pie, Bashful blue
Markers:  Old Olive, Pumpkin Pie, So Saffron, Ruby Red; Zig chocolate marker
DSP: Offbeat by Basic Grey
Chipboard:  Stampin' Up! On Board

Wedding Flowers

For our outdoor wedding 9 years ago, we gave packets of zinnia seeds for favors to continue our gardening theme.  We planted our seeds even though it was a bit late in the season and they came up and bloomed.

Zinnias are supposed to be annuals but ours have reseeded themselves every year. Every year I wonder if these flowers will come back. My husband always assures me that they will and he's always right. Actually, they are spreading and now cover parts of two flower gardens. Along with the coneflowers I started last year, our garden has become a butterfly and moth haven.

So now we not only enjoy a variety of zinnias, we get to see an increasing variety of winged creatures enjoying our flowers, too.

live, laugh

I'll be honest.  I really don't like this card.  The Splitcoaststampers color challenge was to use Regal Rose, Old Olive and the new Peach Parfait.  Regal Rose has never been a favorite.  Also, I'm working without a dedicated craft space.  I have stuff in my bedroom, stuff in the guest room (my craft space), and I'm trying to work on a desk without sufficient light.  Yet, I wanted to try to do some cards downstairs while we had a guest to see if I could come up with a way to do crafts in our living room when I had a few spare minutes rather than having to run upstairs each time.

Here's what I learned from this card:

• Peach Parfait is a little darker than Apricot Appeal (the cardstock I used here).  However, Colorbox has an ink color that is very, very close - Amber Clay.  I have some of Peach cardstock on order from SU! but I'll probably just use my colorbox queue ink for now.  I don't see this one becoming a favorite anyway.
• Stamp sets can be classics or be dated just like any other designed item.  This set called Funky Favorites is one I bought off E-bay when I first started stamping.  While I like the idea of the images - a watering can, a topiary tree, a chair - the artistic style is dated.  I would have been better to apply that money to something current or more classic.
• I can not use my personal antique desk as a stamping space.  The light isn't good enough and there isn't room to house a good desk lamp or a decent cutter.
• Don't use Craft ink with fine line images like these words.  I knew better on that one already. 
• If I work downstairs, I have to invest in a second good paper cutter.  The Fiskers portable paper cutter is awful. 

So the card may not be a masterpiece but as they say, you learn more from your mistakes.

On a positive note, I finished cropping and touching up the Hilton Head photos.  A set is enroute to Jaime via Walmart's photo processing.  They have free shipping on home delivery of photos through the end of this month!

Ingredients:  Stamps:  Funky Favorites by SU!, greetings from Inkadinkado
Ink:  Regal Rose craft, Old Olive, Pumpkin Patch queue by Colorbox
Cardstock:  Old Olive, Apricot Appeal, Whisper White
DSP:  Regal Rose
Ribbon:  Old Olive taffeta by SU!

Blog Candy at Artfuldelight

There is some great blog candy at http://www.artfuldelight.blogspot.com/  She has two different giveaways so be sure to leave comments for both!

Happy summer day!

Mailbox Cards

Here are the cards from the mailbox images I watercolored for TIPsy Tuesday this week.

For this last one, I'm trying to use up some older pattern paper from Stampin' Up!  They have a lot of pretty new papers in this year's catalog.  More goodies to collect and use.

Ingredients:  Stamps:  Mailbox Greetings by Papertrey Ink; Thinking of You greeting from SU!

Ink:  Staz-on Jet Black; various watercolor crayons, Rose Red, Chocolate Chip

DSP:  Fly a Kite by October Afternoon; SU!

Cardstock:  Kraft, Naturals White, Tempting Turquoise

Ribbon:  yellow from ACMoore, Choc Chip Taffeta from SU!

Embroidery Floss:  DMC